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Patterns in childrearing are intimately related to the social-cultural milieu in which family life is embedded. As the smallest social unit, it is the family that transmits the standards and values of society from one generation to the other. No wonder then that the alarming increase in violence among young children in the United States had sparked intense debates in this country regarding “family values.” In these debates, many consider the demise of the nuclear family to be at the root of some of the worst mental health problems of our children.
Since it is the family that is responsible for the maintenance of the fabric of civilized society, we ought to be able to define what constitutes a family. Webster's Dictionary offers 22 definitions, which indicates that this simple question does not have a simple answer. Even if we had a useful definition for practical and legal purposes, from an emotional perspective, the question of what constitutes a family would be difficult to answer. This is so because in the last 40 years, drastic changes have taken place in the manner in which people congregate, live under the same roof, and share their lives. In spite of these changes,